Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. will provide Zambia with more than $1 billion over five years to fight HIV and malaria, prepare for epidemics, and implement maternal and child health programs. Zambia, for its part, was to allocate some $340 million for this purpose.
In addition, the agreement requires Zambia to transfer sensitive health data to the US government, raising concerns about data privacy and sovereignty. Perhaps most controversially, the draft MOU also suggests that the US may be granted access to Zambia's mining concessions as part of the deal - a requirement that US officials have yet to address.
Zambia is Africa's second-largest copper ore exporter after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the country also has significant deposits of cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, lithium and rare earth elements.
The signing of the agreement, scheduled for November, did not take place due to the inclusion of the controversial section in the revised draft agreement.
This agreement continues a series of bilateral U.S. agreements aimed at changing the strategy of providing financial assistance to other countries. After last year's shutdown of USAID and funding cuts around the world, Washington, following the «America First» principle, has declared a course to protect domestic priorities.
The Zambian government acknowledges the critical importance of continued funding, but states that the terms must be balanced and not undermine sovereignty. Experts believe that the crisis has become a turning point: the country needs to reduce its dependence on external donors and develop its own mechanisms for financing healthcare.
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